The Israeli delegation to the United Nations is preparing for the possibility that Arab and Muslim leaders will use the annual general debate of the UN General Assembly, which opens Tuesday, as a chance to condemn Israel for the Lebanon war and its treatment of the Palestinians.
The ramifications of the Lebanon war on the Middle East and the possibility of a renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace process are two items on a long list of issues awaiting the 61st session of the General Assembly. Other items on the agenda include the nuclear programs pursued by Iran and North Korea, the ongoing threat of global terror, Iraq on the verge of collapse and civil war and the continued genocide in Darfur.
Some UN observers expect the Arab bloc to make a concerted effort to advance an Israeli-Palestinian peace process initiated by the Arab League. According to a report by the Associated Press earlier this month, the plan calls for an international conference backed by the UN Security Council. This plan would spark negotiations between Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians by the end of this year.
The Security Council is due to hold a special session Thursday for its first meeting on the Arab League plan. The plan has already caused friction in the General Assembly and is expected to encounter renewed opposition from the United States and Israel. Both nations have said they want to use the road map peace plan as a basis for negotiations.
Quartet to discuss Palestinian conflict
The Quartet - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - are set to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations in a meeting Wednesday. Diplomats said Monday they expected the Quartet to attempt to formulate an official response to Palestinian efforts to establish a national unity government.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be one of the last world leaders to speak at the General Assembly Tuesday. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will speak Wednesday.
Two sets of discussions on the Iranian nuclear program will take place in New York this week, on the margins of the General Assembly session.
A representative of Iran, officials from European countries involved in talks with Iran and the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers will participate in one meeting. The United States will not participate, since it refuses to negotiate with Iran unless Tehran stops enriching uranium.
At the second meeting, which is due to take place at the end of the week and will include the foreign ministers of Germany and the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United States is expected to float a plan that will include sanctions on Iran.
Concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions dominated statements at the opening session Monday of the 140-nation International Atomic Energy Agency conference, with Japan, the United States, the European Union and others urging Tehran to comply with the Security Council demand that it freeze its enrichment program.
‘We believe it is their intention to make a nuclear weapon,’ U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman told reporters outside the meeting in Vienna. Inside, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Association, Mohamed ElBaradei, said negotiations between Tehran and the six-country alliance could serve to lessen skepticism ‘about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.’ These negotiations entail offering Iran rewards for stopping uranium enrichment.
Bush to highlight Mideast democracy in GA speech
This afternoon, U.S. President George W. Bush is scheduled to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to discuss Iraq's progress toward democracy amid continuing violence. Nearly 200 people have been killed in attacks or tortured and dumped in rivers and on Baghdad streets since Wednesday, and politicians are arguing over a proposal to transform Iraq into a federate state.
Bush said last week that he was disappointed the number of U.S. troops in Iraq was climbing rather than falling. He said hopes for troop withdrawals were dashed by the spike in violence in Baghdad.
Bush will discuss the importance of efforts to advance democracy in the Middle East during his speech marking the opening of the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly, UN sources said.
‘He will have very concrete suggestions about the path forward for realizing his vision of freedom,’ an administration official said.
Bush, who arrived in New York Monday for the 61st session of the General Assembly, is expected to describe his agenda for liberty and his vision for the free world, stressing the importance of democratic values as a condition for building global security and stability.
He will announce that the United States is committed to advancing a global agenda based on liberty, democracy, economic prosperity, the war on terror and global security.
Bush will also discuss the challenge of furthering democracy in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority.
Before leaving New York on Wednesday, Bush plans to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Iraq and at least four other world leaders.
The U.S. president will hold the traditional reception for world leaders and heads of state, to which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not invited, sources said. They said a special effort will be made to avoid a run-in between Bush and Ahmadinejad.
Republicans fear war's impact
Polls show the war is unpopular among Americans, and Republicans worry it could cost them votes in November's elections. Bush has been trying to shift the focus to the broader war on terror in recent weeks, introducing legislation that has sparked debate on Capitol Hill about how to treat terrorism suspects. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that Iraq was in grave danger of descending into civil war if present trends continued.
In a stark warning to an international aid conference, Annan said: ‘If current patterns of alienation and violence persist much longer, there is a grave danger that the Iraqi state will break down, possibly in the midst of full-scale civil war.’ Top diplomats said Monday that they expected to hear speeches from Muslim and Arab leaders that expressed frustration with and alienation from the West in general and the United States in particular.
Meanwhile, the 61st session will be led by a Muslim woman: Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa, the legal adviser to Bahrain's Royal Court and the incoming president of the General Assembly. She is the first woman to preside over the General Assembly since 1969, and has stated that fighting poverty tops the agenda.
Kings, presidents and leaders from 192 countries will be participating in the general debate, which will last a week.